Sweet and Low
by hsm07
Summary: Sequel to Love In Disguise. Follow the Wildcat Gang through their senior year at Davidson Academy. After a horrible accident can things get back on track? Or will relationships crumble under the pressure? Troyella...Chaylor...Jelsi...Zeke and Sharpay
1. Fire

**Author's Note--So here's the sequal to Love In Disguise. I personally really like this first chapter alot, but I'm iffy about the beginning. I don't really know why, I think it's because I feel it jumps around a bit, but the more I read it, the more I'm okay with it. Now if you're new at reading this story, then I am warning you now that it's a sequel! You'll want to read Love In Disguise first, but maybe you'll understand it, and if you don't then you can review or pm me and I'll explain anything you have questions on. Thanks.**

* * *

No it don't come easy  
No it don't come fast  
Lock me up inside your garden  
Take me to the riverside

Fire, burning me up  
Desire, taking me so much higher  
And leaving me whole

There you were  
In your black dress  
Moving slow, to the sadness  
I could watch you dance for hours  
I could take you by my side

Fire, burning me up  
Desire, taking me so much higher  
And leaving me

Like fire, turning me on  
Desire, taking me so much higher  
And leaving me, holding whole  
**Fire--Augustana**

* * *

She shifts uncomfortably in the hideous chair.

"Brie," a soft voice whispers.

She hears other voices around her as she snuggles her head into the soft, but yet hard surface next to her. It takes her a second to realize it's an arm that her head is resting so comfortably against. She keeps her eyes shut as it feels better that way too.

"I would just let her rest Troy.

Gabriella didn't twitch or move at the sound of her best friend's whispering voice.

"Brie. Come on. We have good news." Troy's soft, melody of a voice sounds throughout her head, but she doesn't want to move. She's way too comfortable against whosever's arm she is leaning on.

Troy waits for a reaction out of her, but steps back as he doesn't want to wake her up with what he's usually been doing to get her up lately. A kiss. Normally he wouldn't mind if their friends were around, and she would be laying on the couch or something. He would just lean over and press a soft kiss to her lips or forehead, but there's just something different in a hospital waiting room that makes the situation a little weird.

Maybe it's the person who's sitting in the corner with her little son so early into the morning; weeping her eyes out about how the cancer has returned. Maybe it's weird because the secretaries behind the desk are looking at them with some sympathy and wariness. Maybe it's the fact that there's about seven other people who's also in the waiting room; waiting for either good or terrible news about their loved ones, when Troy already knows that Ryan is okay, and what's unfair is that he knows his girlfriend is safe and not in surgury.

"They look peaceful. We shouldn't wake them." Kelsi's groggy voice speaks up from across the waiting room. Earlier within the Saturday, she was sitting where Gabriella was, but as she went back to school for drama, Gabriella stayed at the hospital as Jason decided to stay also to keep an eye on her along with company. Troy would've stayed, but he had to make up a test that he missed seeing as the gang was all taking shifts as to who would be at the hospital for news.

Gabriella wanted to open her eyes before, but now all she wants to do is snuggle into Jason's arm some more and let sleep fully occupy her. God only knows how much sleep she has to catch up on.

Troy and Gabriella stuck together as waiting by themselves for news about Ryan was horrible if they were alone. Time seemed to be slow as Zeke, Kelsi, and Jason would come in together and switch with Gabriella and Troy on some days. Gabriella stayed however, as Troy would run back to school for a quick nap, change of clothes, and to collect their missed schoolwork. Then even Chad and Taylor would come in for support.

But out of the seven of them everyone can tell Gabriella stayed there the longest as Sharpay was there constantly also. She was just in a different waiting room half the time seeing as she was family of the victim.

"They deserve to know. They've both been up here since yesterday." Troy comments as even though he wishes he could speak to her, he sits down in the hospital chair next to his girlfriend's body and takes her closest hand in his. After everything that has happened in the last two weeks of the car crash, there were a lot of eye openers. He had been feeling an extra need to be closer to her. To be feeling like he needed to know where she was at all times. He had just become her boyfriend, and gotten through so many of her barriers that he couldn't lose her. Just the thought of that made him sick in the stomach.

"We can tell them that he's awake after they've slept a while." Zeke suggests as he is on Kelsi's other side.

* * *

The brunette holds in the yawn that wants to escape. She had been at the hospital since Friday afternoon. She stayed up with Sharpay on the upper level for a couple of hours. Troy then came in with Kelsi and Jason with dinner for all five of them; even though Sharpay preferred to stay up on level five as Gabriella went to stay on the ground level. Then she fell asleep as Kelsi and the reluctant Troy left, and she ended up falling asleep at around midnight. She had only awoken hours later as Troy woke her up when he carried her out to the car. He immediately told her that Ryan awoke, but they couldn't visit him since it was past visiting hours.

"Someone's tired," Troy muses as he shuts Gabriella's bed room door behind himself.

Gabriella turns around and looks clearly at her boyfriend. She smiles as she lets her mind play over the word, _boyfriend._. She had been cried out the first three days of hearing about Ryan and Emma's accident. She had been there for Sharpay when her parents couldn't fly in due to work obligations, but they sent their regards as they were willing to send the last nanny Sharpay and Ryan ever had three years previous.

Sharpay was a basket case after that as she couldn't stop crying. Although she would only let Gabriella see her cry as she wouldn't allow anyone else to come into the waiting room with her; making everyone else stay on the lower levels which were nosier, a lot more claustrophobic, and you got to see EVERYONE who walked through the doors.

"I'm fine." Gabriella lies in a simple tone. A tone Troy can decipher any day.

He drops their bags on the floor while making a casual move to stand closer to her. He gives her a boyish grin. "Liar." His hands encircle her waist as he draws her body closer to his. "But you're lucky I love liars."

Gabriella smiles as she blinks away sleep. "You're too good to me sometimes Troy."

Troy sighs while their foreheads meet against each other. "Maybe so, but part of being too good for you includes me making it back to my room on time for curfew."

Gabriella glances at the clock to see it say that he has a little less than five minutes to get back. She frowns as a feeling that she had been feeling a lot more ever since Troy and her got together settles in her stomach.

"I don't want you to go." She admits while smiling at him sheepishly.

His nose nuzzles against hers while his thumb subconsciously is rubbing circles onto her hip. "I don't want to either."

A slow grin appears on her face as her top teeth sink into her bottom lip. "Then stay. Sharpay's not coming back tonight. Not with Ryan waking up and all."

Troy blinks at her slowly as to make sure that he heard her right.

Gabriella smiles warmly at him now as she knows what that feeling is in her stomach. She dreads the time when they have to separate, and a part of her knows why. She had never felt it before the accident. But with Ryan being in the hospital for the past two weeks, she now believes even more in the saying, life's short.

"If you really want me to." Troy stares deeply into her brown eyes.

"I really want you to."

* * *

Ryan never really liked being the center of attention. He was much used to standing in the background; being acknowledged silently. But when he awoke groggily from what he found out later was from a two week coma, he was more than surprised to see Sharpay pacing around his room at one in the morning, shrieking on the phone about how the beige room he was in was not the appropriate cream colored room she requested.

He had no idea what it would mean to wake up and how it would effect his friends' lives. He had no idea that just getting into the car accident would make peoples' lives open up wider, and bigger views would come into the picture. He wasn't expecting to be bombarded by his sister who threw her arms around him and was trying to keep her crying hidden. He had no idea that just getting a broken leg, a few cracked ribs, and a very severe concussion would bring Gabriella and Sharpay closer. And he really wasn't expecting various people coming in to see him in the hospital; bringing or sending gift baskets.

"Hey man!" Chad's cheerful voice broke through the quiet room as Ryan meekly waved and sent him a smile. Ryan would have laughed out loud at seeing Chad trying to balance five gift baskets about the same size of basketballs, a giant poster with different pictures on it, and a couple of envelopes, but he didn't as the pain in his leg was growing with each second Ryan was becoming more alive and aware. "I have a few things for you."

Chad is thankful that they're the only two in the room seeing as he specifically picked out going to the hospital when he knew Sharpay was going to be getting breakfast and going back to the dorm to shower.

"The guys from the team sent some stuff over." Chad instead of being the most generous person, just dumped half the stuff onto the side of the bed that held Ryan's good leg. He took some time casually looking over his friend who had scared the shit out of everyone with the news they received that night from the hospital, and decided on one thing. "You look like shit."

Ryan rolls his eyes with a lazy smile. He had stayed very still in the bed as his torso is in no shape to be used vigorously for a while. "Yeah, well…neither do you, or anyone else who's already come to see me. You guys looked like you haven't slept in weeks."

Chad missed Ryan's statement as he concentrated on one thing. "Anyone else?"

"Yeah. Zeke came in already this morning. Sometime right before classes, which you're missing by the way." Ryan forces a laugh to keep things light, even though all he wanted to do was sleep.

Chad doesn't know how to react as he mentioned Zeke's name. Chad really hadn't had to deal with him seeing as they were never left alone in a room for the past two weeks by themselves, and deep down Chad is dreading for when that happens.

"Oh well…hey, how's your leg doing? What did the Doc say about baseball?" He asks as Ryan knows that Chad changed the subject on purpose, but plays along anyways.

"He says I'm out with this cast for at least six weeks. Maybe more, maybe a little less. Then we have to mix some therapy in there somewhere. And maybe if it's strong enough and I don't over due it, I can be back to my normal self in a couple of months."

"Yikes!" Chad winces. "Leg injuries suck. I don't think I could go without sports in my life."

"You make it sound like I'm dying." Ryan muses right when Taylor walks through the door; arms filled with boxes of chocolate, stuffed animals, and balloons.

She stops dead in her tracks when she hears what Ryan just said, and goes wide eyed. She thinks over his words and how everyone was always thinking it the first week he was in a coma. "Chad, what the hell did you say to him?"

Chad rushes over to Taylor to take the items she's holding. "Nothing that DRAMATIC." He sends Ryan a filthy glare as he drops the items around the room lazily while Taylor walks over to him.

"How are you feeling?" She asks softly.

Ryan takes in her look and decides it isn't as bad as how Sharpay or even Chad and Zeke look. "Well right now I'm kind of doped up on painkillers, so ask me that in a couple of days."

"You must be tired." She points out in a statement as Chad comes to stand next to her. Chad automatically put his arm around her shoulders, and draws her in closer. It is a little gesture that meant something big. Almost everyone knows it as Taylor and Chad have some weird dance they are doing. One moment they will be avoiding touching each other at all costs even though at other times, they will be all over each other. Everyone knows it. They all know that they're together, but yet it seems that Taylor and Chad are going to be the last two to announce it.

"Tired as hell. Docs say I should rest." Ryan stiffens a yawn as he knows that he should too, but another part of him, a greater part of him just wants to hang out with his friends, and get answers that the doctors weren't allowed to give out.

"No big deal man. We'll just head out. Got classes to attend." Chad manages to say it cheerfully.

* * *

"This feels wrong." Gabriella states quietly in a whisper even though they're the only two in the room. They are currently wrapped up in each other as they are both in their pajamas under the covers to keep their cold bodies safe from the harsh winds that are coming in mid October.

Gabriella's head is resting on Troy's chest as half her body is entangled with his, and he has one arm encircling her from around the shoulders to keep her body molded into his. His fingers are gently running patterns onto her back through her soft cotton tank top while he breaths in her scent contently; something he only dreamed of before.

"How so?" He whispers back while just enjoying basking under the covers with his girlfriend.

Gabriella's thin fingers dance across Troy's chest absentmindedly. "Let's see…one, our friend is in the hospital who just woke up from being in a coma for two weeks. Two, his sister didn't come back to her room last night, and I have no idea where she is. Three, this is the biggest problem; this also feels right." Gabriella's tone got quieter and quieter with each thing she said. A slight blush coats her cheeks at admitting the last thing as she truly did think that way.

Troy furrows his brow while his hand stays stationed on her back in confusion. "I would hope it feels good. Or else I'm gonna have to learn some new techniques." He tries to keep it light hearted, but he knows from just looking down at the brunette that she's serious. He presses a light kiss to the top of her head. "What are you thinking about Pretty Girl."

She looks up while her hand clutches at the t-shirt he's wearing self consciously. She doesn't stop to protest to the new nickname he just gave her; knowing already that she is pretty much the farthest away from being pretty at the time with the lack of sleep and shower that morning. She gives him a watery smile as her emotions lately--along with everyone else--are out of control.

"I'm thinking about how everything was going to be okay. Taylor and Chad are kind of together. Kelsi and Jason were so happy before this happened. Sharpay was actually getting along with Zeke. But then most importantly I was thinking about you. How cheesy is that?" Gabriella sniffles a little as she wipes her unshed tears away before clutching onto Troy again.

He strokes her soft curls that flow onto her back. "I'm not going anywhere Brie. That's a promise."

She turns her head a little and rests her chin on his chest so she can look up at him. Their eyes connect and in that moment Gabriella believes him. "I know."

The look in the other person's eyes draw them in; their lips gravitate towards one another and meet in the softest lip lock either one has ever experienced. "Thank you Troy."

"For what?"

"For knowing what to say."

He knows Gabriella's sincere, and that she has courage and faith in him, but there's a little voice in the back of his mind. And that little voice is telling him that he could possibly fuck up her trust so easily with one little mistake, and that wasn't fair. He had seen her ups and downs in the past three years. He attended her father's, brother's, and sister's funeral and saw her silent, memorable--and in a weird way--beautiful melt down. He just wants to be the one to make her happy now. He wants to see the glow in her eyes, and lately as her boyfriend he only sees it when they're alone. She's so fragile, and he's scared he's gonna break her. It just wasn't fair.

* * *

After Chad and Taylor left that Monday morning Ryan wanted to sleep. He did get to for a certain amount of time. An amount of time that barely equaled anything to him as it was only for an hour before he heard an insistent voice in the background of his dreams. A voice that sounded a lot like his sister.

When he did fully wake up he saw her taking down the curtains of his hospital room and hanging up new ones. Ones that had pictures of Pokemon on them. Ones that he vaguely remembered from his childhood craving for collecting the cards to trade them a week later.

"What are you doing?" Ryan asks in a rough voice due to the dryness in his mouth.

Sharpay spins around on the chair that she's standing on so she can reach the top of the window and looks for a moment surprised at her brother. She quickly over comes the surprise that showed and puts on a thin smile. "What does it look like Ry? I'm changing this hideous green curtain to a more…" She steps down from the chair to examine her work, and tries to find a correct describing word, "…_colorful._"

"I know it's _colorful_, but you chose POKEMON?" Ryan looks at his sister as if she's crazy, which he's starting to think after waking up from his small coma and finding Sharpay pacing around his room like a mad person.

She cocks her hip and puts her hand on it with a raised eye brow. Her voice is low. Her voice is dangerous. Her voice is daring as she silently challenges him. "Do you have a problem with Pokemon? I picked it out specifically for you. Who else would buy this at the Wal-Mart down the street?"

Ryan blinks his eyes widely. "YOU went to Wal-Mart?" He bites down on his lip to stop the chuckle about to leak out at just imagining it.

Sharpay narrows her eyes threateningly. She breathes fiercely through her nose as she tries to remain calm. "Listen, I had put up with a lot of crap lately. Okay?" She doesn't stop. "Troy and Gabriella are together now. Zeke keeps trying to get into contact with me. Mom and Dad are off on some island doing some business deal. They barely call so I'm left with all this hospital crap. So if you don't like the curtains then I'll just take them down." She doesn't wait for Ryan to say anything as she waltzes up to them and rips them down; watching them clatter to the ground in a pile of heap, the curtain rod and all.

She keeps her back to him as she promised herself earlier that she wasn't going to break down anymore, but just seeing her brother responding more than earlier in the morning, is bringing on some kind of emotion that she doesn't understand.

"Shar?" He asks quietly as he sees her shoulders shudder from the quiet sobs she's keeping to herself. She doesn't answer. "Shar?"

He sees the ripped curtains that were taken down powerfully. "What?" She chokes out.

"Please look at me." He says it softly as her body turns only the slightest so he can see half of her face. The tears glisten in her eyes while running brightly down her pale cheeks. "Don't cry. Please don't cry."

Sharpay squares her shoulders to him after she takes one more dramatic sob and looks him square in the eye. "I'm not crying." She repeats it more weakly the second time; trying to convince herself more than Ryan. "I'm not." He holds his arms out for her and she collapses into them. "I'm really not." The wet stains appearing on his hospital gown contradict what she's sobbing.

After a good five minutes of Sharpay letting out all of her tears that built up over the past two weeks, she lays back on the bed with her brother. "I really did think you'd like the curtains. I thought it would be nice to remember your childhood when you woke up the next time."

Ryan looks down at the battered cotton sheets on the ground and smiles softly. "I really do like them. They're a nice reminder when things used to be simple."

Sharpay blinks back tears that Ryan doesn't want to see.

"I know."

* * *

"Dude, I can't believe the Head Master approved of this!" Zeke's exciting voice fills the air as Jason and him share a high five while walking carelessly into Kelsi's room that had her door open.

She looks up from the spot she's sitting in on her bed; reading a text book she is behind in. "So did he approve?" She asks with slight eagerness in her voice; mixed in with her nerves and anxious self.

Jason goes to sit down next to her as his back rests against the wall her bed is pushed up against. He didn't know how he felt about it at first when Zeke brought up the idea. He hadn't really talked one on one with Ryan in what seems like forever to him, but when Zeke mentioned that he should just drop all bitter feelings he felt towards their blonde haired friend, then of course Jason double thought his reasoning for not talking to him. They used to be friends. They are roommates. They see each other every day, but yet Jason still managed to go against him and started dating Kelsi; an act in which Jason won't ever regret. But yet he still felt loyal to Ryan to at least throw a 'Welcome Back' party with Zeke as a present.

"Yeah. He comes back in about a week so we'll just do it Saturday evening."

Zeke sits down on Kelsi's desk chair. "Of course the Head Master wants it to be open to EVERYONE, so we have to hold it in the gymnasium, along with every teacher being there." Zeke looks annoyed for a moment, but he still has a genuine smile on his face.

Kelsi looks between the boys, but more specifically at Jason to see how he might react to her small quiet question. "So uh…he's up and doing a little better?"

She then looks at Zeke as she knows Jason's eyes are on her. It's not a crime to know how you're ex-boyfriend who's now your friend is doing after being in a horrific car accident. "Yeah." Zeke looks between the two and stands up as if he just remembered that he is supposed to be anywhere, but there. "Yeah, he's up and talking. Legs killing him, but that's to be expected."

"Right. And," Kelsi hesitates, "he's talking though. Remembering things?"

Zeke backs away a little bit more. "…um…yeah. I didn't have a lot of time, but yeah. He's doing great. Look, I really have to go. Things to plan and get. See you two around."

After Zeke's rushed exit Kelsi can still feel Jason's brown eyes on her. "Just say it." She states quietly; her hands playing with each other.

"Say what?" He asks with forced confusion. He doesn't want to tell her what he's thinking.

She turns a little and looks into his eyes. "You're playing dumb. Just say it Jase."

He doesn't want to seem like that guy who's jealous of her ex-boyfriend, but he would be lying if he said he didn't notice Kelsi's distant stares, her half-hearted touches, her silent thoughts that all revolved around Ryan.

But with one look into her troubled eyes, he knows. He knows that he shouldn't bring it up because everyone's worried, he is just the only one who's not as worried as everyone else due to their past history over the last month. Plus he was spending a lot of time with Gabriella who was busy trying to take care of herself and Sharpay at the same time, so he now owes it to Kelsi to spend all of his free time trying to take care of her. Even if that means focusing on her ex-boyfriend.

His hand reaches out and traces the contours of her soft cheek. "You want me to say something?"

She leans into his touch automatically; missing his comforting hand as she had to watch him comfort everyone else around them, everyone else besides her as if he was avoiding her.

"Just tell me what you're thinking."

Jason sighs while scooting closer and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Everything's going to be okay."

* * *

"We missed all of our classes." Gabriella states with a lazy smile on her face, a glow to her eyes that took Troy all of the afternoon to put in them.

Gabriella feels safe in his arms as they still are only laying on her bed. They are both damp from finally taking a much needed shower separately, but they then decided that the day is almost over, so why go to their last class? Troy also secretly noted to himself that Gabriella still looks really tired, and he can't even remember when the last time she ate was.

He smiles down at her as he's half laying and half sitting on her bed with his back propped up by pillows. Gabriella's laying on her side, her arm is propping her up as she's just small enough to fit on the twin size bed so she won't fall over the edge.

"It was worth it." He speaks the truth again as his rough hand frames half of her face. Sliding delicately down and onto her soft curve of the neck, resting lightly on her small shoulder blade.

Gabriella feels the spark of a shiver running down her spine at just the slightest touch he evokes on her. She pushes past the feeling and smiles warmly at him; almost in awe as she needs him so much without even knowing it. "Why's that?"

The intensity that their eyes are making overtakes the peaceful room. "Because of your eyes." He lets out one chuckle as her eyes narrow in slight confusion, and a giggle spills from her mouth at just hearing Troy's good hearty laugh. "They're glowing," his thumb traces around the edge of her eye sight. "And it's one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen."

Gabriella crinkles her nose as if she's hoping that will distract him enough so he doesn't see her eyes gloss over in tears that she thought she rid of earlier in the week. "You're cheesy Bolton." The way her tone is soft contradicts her statement of how much she hates cheesy.

He leans his head down closer as his breath tickles her face. "Well Pretty Girl, you better get used to it. I'm not going anywhere."

Their noses touch, and Troy self-consciously tightens his hold on her; as if to show her how much she means to him.

"Don't say it if you don't mean it." Gabriella knows she's pleading.

He presses a short, hard kiss to her mouth to seal the deal. "They'd have to pry me away before I leave you."

"I love you so much Troy."

His words are glide across her lips as she can feel his mouth against hers. "I love you too." They finally meet in an expected kiss that's just shared between the two; away from friends, away from teachers, and away from their classmates. It's a special bond the two share, and right then, that bond's helping them believe that nothing bad can happen to them.

* * *

**Author's note--So what did you think? Leave a review please.**


	2. Beautiful Soul

_I don't want another pretty face  
I don't want just anyone to hold  
I don't want my love to go to waste  
I want you and your beautiful soul  
You're the one I wanna chase  
You're the one I wanna hold  
I wont let another minute go to waste  
I want you and your beautiful soul...  
_Beautiful Soul--Jesse McCartney

* * *

Tuesday morning came around and no matter if Gabriella and Troy laid around in bed the whole day before, Gabriella was still very reluctant to get up, but in surprise and shock her roommate was up before she was and applying her daily make up.

Sharpay had come from the hospital earlier in the morning, and she stayed quiet. It was difficult as she had to stop before entering their room to take off her high heel shoes so she wouldn't make a noise when entering, but she could've had a whole marching band follow her in as Gabriella was knocked out.

"How's Ryan?" Gabriella asks right away as she feels bad that Troy and her didn't go visit him the previous day, but yet she still won't trade anything in return for what she felt being in Troy's arms the whole day.

Sharpay doesn't falter while recapping her lip gloss as she let out all her emotions before talking to anybody besides Ryan. "He's good."

Gabriella hesitates as she remembers the fearless blank expression that occupied Sharpay's face not even a week ago. "And you?"

The blonde swallows quietly. "I'm good."

Gabriella doesn't believe her.

* * *

Schedules still needed to be followed as everyone in the past two weeks abandoned their responsibilities. Classes need to be attended. Homework needs to be done. Tests are to be taken. And studying sessions need to be attended.

"So you have basketball practice until 5:30, right?"

Chad whines, "Tay, do we really need to study?"

She rolls her eyes as she's busy flicking through the Earth Science book that they had neglected for quite a few weeks already. "It's one night a week and it won't kill you."

"It's three hours! THREE hours Tay! Do you not understand?" He questions her as if she's a crazy person.

"It's three hours once a week. I think you'll live." She has been trying to end this conversation for ten minutes already, and so far Chad has found almost all excuses to miss it, but yet none of them worked.

"I could be…I could be…helping Zeke and Jason plan Ryan's homecoming party." Chad states in a rush as the excitement of finding another excuse enters his brain. "You know, since I am the baseball captain and all, I should probably really, REALLY help them out. You know how much trouble Zeke and Jason could get into with the Headmaster attending the party?"

Taylor is stunned as in the middle of Chad's poor excuse of not studying stopped them both from continuing to their classes. She must have been looking at him weirdly because Chad gives her a weird look in return.

"What?" He asks slowly. "Do I have something on my face or something?" He starts touching everywhere.

"No…it's just," she is speechless, but tries to collect herself. She clears her throat a little, and gives him a small smile. "It's just, this is the first time you mentioned Zeke without going all weird."

He kinks an eye brow as he hadn't even realized he mentioned Zeke's name quite a few times. "Going all _weird_? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, it's just…usually we stay away from him in our conversations."

"And we still do. I wasn't specifically talking about him. I was talking about the party in general, and more about helping Jason than him. Okay?" Chad quips.

Taylor is momentarily stunned with how Chad can go from whining about studying to a bitter tone of denial. She can sense he doesn't want to talk about it anymore, as she doesn't feel like being snapped at either. "Yeah. So meet me in the library?"

Chad sighs, "Yeah. I'll meet you there." He doesn't feel like putting up a fight anymore as he had been thinking about it a lot lately. What if Taylor suddenly decides that they're not good enough together? That her and Zeke make a better couple? He can ruin his chances with her in one mistake of a little fight. So in an unlike Chad fashion, he bites his tongue as he doesn't feel like arguing over something so little as studying. "5:30 on the dot."

* * *

Even though she has a mountain of homework to do, a drama club meeting to attend, and a few songs to run through on the piano, she has to do this. She knew she had to go see him ever since Earth Science that day and Zeke was behind her, along with an empty chair. Of course she has Jason who always makes the labs they were doing in that class fun, and not boring, but even after her and Ryan broke up, she is so used to hearing Zeke and him getting scolded by the teacher about doing things wrong, that in their lab that day, she barely even talked as she was on the edge of her seat; nearly expecting the so called blonde boy to walk through the door saying the car accident was all one big joke.

She knocks on the big wooden door softly, and hears a groggy voice allowing her to enter. She didn't tell anyone that she was going to the hospital. She didn't even tell Jason that she was going to be gone from the time allowed after school to when the drama club starts at six.

She walks into the room as this is the first time that she's actually been in his hospital room. It is so white that she blinks her eyes in shock at how blinding it is.

"Hey." She peeps out as in the back of her mind it feels wrong to be there. It feels wrong for not telling Jason that she's with Ryan at the time, but then again, she has to remind herself that she doesn't always have to check things with Jason. They're not even official yet; so it shouldn't matter.

Ryan tries to straighten up in his bed as he was previously just lazily flipping through magazines of different things that Chad brought by the other morning with various other things.

"Oh no, don't move or anything." Kelsi rushes over to him as she can clearly see that he's still in pain. She lays a hand on his shoulder without even thinking about it, "Don't feel like you have to move just for me."

Ryan settles into the bed again as there is an awkward silence between them. He looks down at the hand Kelsi has on his shoulder, and Kelsi must have followed his eye sight as she removed her hand almost instantly.

Ryan clears his throat as their eyes connect again. "So um…what brings you here?"

Kelsi wants to scream at him for asking that. Isn't it fairly obvious why she's there? She's there because she hasn't spoken to him in over two weeks, and usually friends don't do that; not to mention that he was just in a car accident.

But she doesn't scream as she musters a brave smile and says, "Considering you have missed A LOT of school, I brought you some things." She manages to stay chipper, and if he is seeing right through her little facade, then he isn't saying anything. She untangles her arm from her book bag and lays it out on the bed where his legs aren't occupying.

"You brought my schoolwork?" He asks slowly with no amusement.

"Yeah. Do you know how much you have? It's bizarre as I never realized how much stuff can build up over two weeks, but you're proof of that now. You have a lot of things to do, and I thought it would help if you could get a head start in it." Kelsi explains while pulling out folder after folder from her bag.

Ryan knows she means well, but doing homework in the hospital isn't his idea of fun, but then again she is thinking of the right thing so that when he does go back, he won't be totally swamped by it all.

Ryan sighs while slowly letting himself agree with Kelsi's actions. "Okay, then…let me see some of this stuff."

She hands him a manila folder that holds his math homework filled with notes, worksheets, and various other handouts. He goes through it as she is still pulling out his notebooks, and personal school items that he keeps in his room instead of leaving them in the classroom.

His mind goes blank as he sees all the assignments he missed. "I don't think I'll be able to understand half of this stuff." He mumbles absentmindedly.

Kelsi stops what she's doing and stares at him. She lets his eyes lock on his body as he's looking down, flicking through various papers, and mumbling to himself. She almost forgot what it feels like being this close to him for this amount of time as they are alone. They really hadn't been alone since their break up. They've always been outside with other people walking around, or in the dining hall with various people swarming around the tables.

"I can help you." She finds herself offering without even processing what that means.

He snaps his head up in surprise as he looks like a deer caught in headlights. "You don't have too. I can probably get Tay or something like that."

"Why go through the trouble when you have someone right now willing to do it?" Kelsi asks as if it's that simple.

He knows that it's risky with her just dating Jason for now, but he shouldn't have to worry about it as it's Kelsi's job to do that.

"Okay. How about we start on my math right now." Ryan agrees as Kelsi smiles brightly at him.

"I knew you'd see it my way."

* * *

Sharpay packed her bag for the evening as it just consisted of her putting her drama club papers together. That night she was expected to work with Ryan's understudy as it is clearly obvious Ryan isn't going to be ready for the show. She expected to just go to the meeting, inform everyone what is happening to her brother, and then go back to her room and maybe, MAYBE; which is a big maybe, ask Gabriella for the notes in their English class that she missed.

She wasn't expecting to bump into Zeke walking out of her room and into the girls' lobby. "Hey Sharpay." He greets quietly as this is the first time since they talked in two weeks, and he told her he believes in her.

It was a game of avoidance, and Zeke chose to be the first one to break the rules, and wait for Sharpay to leave her room that night.

"Zeke? What are you doing here?" She snaps.

"I was just wondering if you were okay?" He looks her over as he genuinely did just want to know if she is okay or not.

Sharpay is so used to being Miss. Independent that the only other person she can remember who remotely ever asks her if she's okay or not is Ryan, and now Gabriella and Zeke are slowly making themselves onto her one person list, and she doesn't like it.

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" She snips like usual.

By now Zeke has come accustomed to her snippy comments. He almost finds them funny if half of them weren't directed at himself.

"Maybe because your brother is in the hospital." Zeke states with narrowed eyes. He's tired of always being the one she can complain to, but yet she can't have a descent conversation with.

"Then you should talk to my brother. I'm not the one with the broken leg." Sharpay icily says before walking past him and out of the lobby.

* * *

Gabriella's practice ended at 5:00 p.m., but she didn't get out of the locker until 5:45 that night as after a two hour soccer practice with double the amount of girls since the varsity practiced with the JV team, the locker room showers had a shortage of stalls available, and Gabriella being the captain of the varsity soccer team took it upon herself the duty of helping the coach put everything away with Kelsi. So by the time she got into the locker room ten minutes later, every girl was scrambling around to get changed in time for dinner or studying.

But the last thing Gabriella expected to see when she was walking out of the locker room by herself, the occasional girl or two left behind since they took longer than everyone else, was Troy standing outside the door to the stadium.

He is leaning against the wall with his one foot propped up casually and his arms folded across his chest. His smirk says it all as their eyes meet.

"What are you doing here Troy? Didn't you just get done with practice?" Gabriella asks as she walks closer to him so that she's standing directly in front of him. "I'm glad that you're here though."

"Believe it or not Brie, some people don't take forty-five minutes in the locker room like others." Troy teases as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her in for a much needed hug; anything to get closer to her. "My practice ended fifteen minutes ago, so here I am; showered and dressed."

Gabriella pulls back as their eyes lock, and their fingers interlace together. They start walking down the hall as they both simultaneously somehow know where the other one is going without talking. When they walk outside Gabriella shivers as the cold air hits her like a ton of bricks.

"When did it get so cold this year?" Gabriella asks as it seems like yesterday that it was just the summertime.

Troy chuckles deeply while removing his lightweight zip up jacket, and puts it around Gabriella's shoulders as a shield. "You heard what Mrs. Gribble said--_Seasons happen because of the Earth's tilt_." Troy flashes Gabriella a smile before she bursts out laughing. He studies her as her face crinkles with giggles, and her nose scrunches up into a very cute button type shape while her eyes dance with happiness.

"That has got to be the WORST impersonation of Mrs. Gribble ever!" Gabriella bursts out into another fit of giggles. She's unaware of Troy's studying eyes as their hands that are connected swing back and forth together while they continue walking into the chilly night.

"You're cute when you laugh, you know that right?" He asks.

She momentarily stops laughing, and all thoughts of Troy mimicking their Earth Science teacher leaves her mind as her cheeks heat up. "You're just saying that." She modestly looks away or else she knows that her cheeks will get even redder.

"Am not." Troy protests like a little kid before he pulls their connected hands to his mouth and lightly lays a soft kiss onto her knuckles. "I love your laugh Brie." He whispers against her skin.

All playfulness leaves the tone as they momentarily stop walking and look at each other. Gabriella knows that she loves him. She knows that what she's feeling is real and alive. She just never knew that what she is feeling could keep on growing and growing. In ways that scares her, but being scared is outweighed by her want and need for Troy.

She pulls their connected hands towards her, and opens his hand to reach his palm. She gingerly lays a kiss upon his flesh and looks up at him through heavy eye lids. "I love you too."

* * *

Kelsi and Ryan are in a middle of a laughing fit as Kelsi is nearly on the ground with tears in her eyes, and Ryan is holding his side in pain, but he can't stop.

"That date was so HORRIBLE that I thought Zeke wouldn't be able to get the ketchup out of his hair for days!" Kelsi exclaims as she somehow manages to gasp a whole sentence without breaking off.

They had worked on some of the math homework, ordered dinner through the convenient menu brought in by one of the nurses, and worked on some of his English homework, but in the middle of when the food came and eating, they started talking about how the ketchup and fries resembled the food that Taylor threw at Zeke when the two couples back in the beginning of February went out on a double date, and Zeke and Taylor were in the middle of their first fight with each other. It resulted with Taylor throwing fries and ketchup at Zeke.

In the moment that Ryan finally is calming down he let's his thoughts slip out. "That was a good date…but things change," he sighs.

Kelsi looks at him softly. "Some for the better." She didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but it is the truth that they both have to come to realize.

Ryan meets her gaze. "And some for the worst."

"It depends on your line of intake." Kelsi counters.

Ryan looks away from her and over at his side table next to his right side. He sees the digital clock. "Shit!" He curses as Kelsi looks up alarmed. "You missed the drama meeting."

Kelsi's eyes go wide as she knows that Sharpay's going to kill her. She jumps up and looks around at both of their scattered papers. "Um…I'll just have to come back tomorrow to pick these things up. I have to go Ry." She says it so quickly that she doesn't notice the slip up of his nickname she gave him junior year.

Ryan is in a daze as the only thing Kelsi does grab is her empty American Eagle bag. "…yeah. Bye Kels." With that, Kelsi rushes out of the room, not turning back as she is also supposed to meet Jason at his room after the drama meeting, which ended a half hour ago.

* * *

"I don't think we'll be able to come here anymore during the nighttime." Troy states as he feels Gabriella shiver into his arm.

"But it's so pretty." Gabriella gushes softly while snuggling into Troy's side even more, and looking up at the sky. Her hand reaches up and her finger points at the stars. She slowly connects them in the air. "See, this is the Big Dipper."

"That's the Big Dipper?" Troy snorts.

Gabriella thwacks him in the stomach before settling her hand there again, "Are you making fun of me?" She accuses with a pout.

He places a kiss on her head. "No. I could never make fun of you." This is such a different side of Gabriella that he's rarely ever seen, and he knows he will never get sick of her. Gabriella shivers again and no matter if she's wearing his jacket, and she's snuggled up to his warm side, they are still laying on the grass out in her 'safe haven' next to the woods and drop off cliff. "But I do think that we should get going before we catch colds."

Troy starts to get up, but Gabriella places her hand firmly on his upper chest, "Wait," she whispers, "just a minute. Please?"

How can he say no to the big innocent eyes pleading with him. "…Okay Pretty Girl, but after this, we have got to get you inside or else you'll miss the basketball game tomorrow."

Gabriella holds in her squeal of delight as Troy's basketball game was originally supposed to be the Saturday after the accident, but the other school had to cancel for some bus mix up. "I can't wait to see you play." Gabriella praises as they snuggle back down into the ground and look up into the stars again.

Troy smiles proudly as he rubs light patterns on her clad covered thigh. "Good, because I need my good luck charm in the stands."

"There you go again with the compliments." Gabriella scolds lightly as this is what it's supposed to feel like. Love is supposed to feel like something you can't even explain, and it just keeps growing. She can't believe how different she feels, and it's all because of Troy.

"That's because you deserve them. I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

**Author's Note--Comments? Suggestions? Review please?**


	3. The Love That Left You to Die

_Don't speak,  
I'm dying cause I know it all.  
Don't leave,  
he's only gonna let you fall.  
I'm here,  
you know that you can have it all.  
Take me,  
I'm never gonna let you fall._  
The Love That Left You to Die--Metro Station

* * *

"Nervous?" Taylor asks as her and Chad are in her room and it's just hours away from the first basketball game of the season. It had been pushed back since it was scheduled to be held a week later since the accident, but with Ryan still in the coma and the boys who were close to him running around like zombies with little sleep, the coach rearranged it for one time only to be played on a Wednesday instead of a Friday.

"Me? Nervous?" Chad made a 'pft' sound. "When have I ever been nervous?"

Taylor sends him a pointed look. "So you're totally calm? Not even thinking of the game whatsoever? Even if the other team showed up right now, you'd be ready?"

"Do they give you a twenty minute warm up time?"

"Nope."

"Doesn't matter then. I'd still be ready." Chad says as Taylor sends him another pointed look, and he caves. "Maybe just a little bit nervous."

Taylor grasps his hand. "You're gonna do great."

Chad and Taylor share a smile. A smile that shows silently just how much the other one means to each other. A smile that shows how appreciated they make the other one feel. A smile that shows just how much the two have come from being acquaintances, to friends, to now two people who are dating.

"Yeah. I am."

* * *

"Dude, what about you and Kels? How do you know she's not dating some other girl?" Zeke asks as it is just Troy, Jason, Gabriella, and him in the lobby of the guys' dorm.

Jason looks up from looking at the current guest list of Ryan's party and narrows his eyes on Zeke. "Not all girls do that."

"Touché." Zeke says. "But you know that's different since you and Kels just started going out. Taylor and I were…we basically were fucked since the beginning."

Gabriella stays oblivious to the whole conversation as she was just there to pick out the party invitation styles. Taylor is her best friend, and even though she has made bad choices in the past, Gabriella still supports her and whoever she's with. She isn't going to get in the middle of it.

"You guys do know that there's no way that we're gonna be able to send out invitations to EVERYONE in time for this thing on Saturday. I don't even know why I'm bothering to pick out a design." Gabriella sighs as she leans back and rests her tired head on Troy's shoulder. "I should be doing homework." She moans as Troy rubs her shoulder.

"Shhh!" Jason hisses. "No talk of homework allowed."

"I think we're all behind in that area." Troy comments lazily while his eyes flick over the book of invitation designs. "How about instead of sending out invites, we just do it modernly and use the internet? I bet Tay has everyone's e-mail in the student handbook. We all know that she likes to keep that thing."

It was true. Every new school year, the kids at registration are given a book with everyone's e-mails and room numbers in it. But barely anyone ever kept it.

"I mean, the Head Master did say that everyone is welcomed, so just fill out one e-mail and send it out. Bam! It's done in five seconds." Troy concludes.

Jason and Zeke look at each other. Zeke isn't up for working with Taylor on that little project, and Jason just doesn't want too. "Okay then. It's decided. You, Troy Bolton, can work on the invite." Jason announces.

"No way! I just came up with the idea. There's no way that I'm getting stuck with people asking me questions and the R.S.V.P's." Troy states. "No way."

"Exactly. You came up with it, so you can do it." Zeke concludes as it was finalized.

"Are you going to do anything?" Troy asks incredulously to Gabriella.

Gabriella smiles sheepishly. She doesn't want to get stuck with four hundred kids e-mailing her; telling her whether they can or can not go. "You asked for it babe."

"You're lucky you're cute, or else I wouldn't be here."

Jason rolls his eyes disgustingly. "I was never like that with her, was I?" He whispers to Zeke as Troy and Gabriella are off in their own world.

"…Maybe." Zeke admits quietly.

Jason shudders, "Okay you two, break it up!"

Troy glares at him good heartedly. "At least I have a girlfriend."

"Which brings us back to; ask Kelsi out already!"

"We do go out." Jason says defensively.

"Make it official then dude. You know you want too." Zeke encourages.

"She really does like you Jase." Gabriella adds.

"Whatever. I'll think about it."

Truth is, Jason hasn't had a serious girlfriend since Gabriella.

* * *

"I am so sorry." Kelsi apologizes as Jason opens the door right away.

Jason's face shows surprise as he wasn't expecting a disheveled Kelsi to come pounding on his door; to apologize nonetheless. He didn't see her the night before like they planned, but it was all okay with him as he knew that he was going to see her after the game and they could talk.

"Hey there." Jason greets with a charming boyish glint in his eye. "What brings you here?"

Kelsi stands there with her mouth open in shock, and her eyes wide. "…You're not mad?" She asks in astonishment.

Jason blinks, "Mad?"

"Yeah, mad. I totally forgot last night, and then I didn't come here for planning of Ryan's homecoming." Kelsi explains further as she purposely forgot to say that she was with Ryan when she was forgetting those other things.

Jason grins. "It would've been nice for a heads up or a call from you, but I managed for one day by myself. It's all good." The thing that is keeping him so calm is the fact that Kelsi feels like she has to apologize, and that she truly looks and sounds sorry.

"Sorry. I meant too, but--"

He holds up his hand in a stopping motion. "Don't worry about it," he cuts in. "Sharpay told me all about it. You had an emergency drama meeting, and you're gonna have to have more rehearsals than usual now since Ryan is out of the show."

Kelsi blinks now as she looks like a fish out of the water. "Sharpay…um…Sharpay told you that?" She gulps. How much does Sharpay know?

Jason nods his head. "Yeah. Actually, she kind of stabbed me with her long and sharp nails first to get my attention, but eventually I listened and she explained everything. Ms. Darbus held you guys late last night, right?"

Kelsi can go two ways. She can explain to Jason that she was with Ryan the whole time remembering past events and just talking like two people who were super close, or she can tell him that Sharpay is right. That she was at rehearsal.

"Um…" She doesn't want anymore trouble. She really, REALLY likes Jason, and she doesn't want to give him a reason to dislike her just because she's talking to an old friend. "Yeah. Sharpay and Ms. Darbus held us late last night. It was so boring."

Jason smiles as he steps closer to her. "Well then. I think I have something that will cheer you up." He connects their lips together and soon everything Kelsi was thinking about before-- Ryan, soccer, drama, and schoolwork-- they all disappear, and it's because of Jason.

* * *

"What do you mean you're coming?" Troy asks nervously as he holds the piece of technology closer to his ear; as if he heard wrong.

"Don't be nervous honey. It's just for the weekend." His mother's calming voice spoke clearly on her head set of a phone, as Troy can also hear his father's rough breathing as he is on the second Bolton household phone of the estate.

"We want to see just how good you're doing for basketball. And what better way than to see your second game?" Jack Bolton asks with optimism that usually is rarely heard; unless you are apart of his family or close circle of friends.

"Good luck on tonight's game too honey. We really wished we could come." Lucille coos.

Troy feels like his throat is going dryer and dryer as the seconds past. "No, uh…no problem mom. When are you getting here?" He demands quickly as he mentally pulls out a map in his mind.

"On Friday morning, but we won't come to see you until Friday night for a nice family dinner. We'll see your game Saturday as you can give us the grand tour Saturday afternoon, and then we'll leave Sunday afternoon; right after our Sunday brunch with you." Lucille explains as if Troy will have all this free time.

Jack coughs uncomfortably. "You can uh…even bring your girlfriend…uh…_Sharpie_?" Troy rolls his eyes as Jack made it quite clear that he doesn't like Sharpay's parents that much, and in relation to that, he could never quite get Sharpay's name right.

"Sharpay." Troy corrects right away. "And uh…we kind of broke up." He can picture his dad's smile widening to a full out grin as his mother is probably frowning. For some reason, Lucille does like Sharpay.

"We're so sorry honey. That makes this trip extra special then." She says chirpily; as if masking her true feelings.

"Actually," Troy clears his throat. "I have a new girlfriend."

"Oh?" Jack asks with raised eye brows.

"Yeah. You guys remember Gabriella Montez, right?"

* * *

"This is YOUR future!" The Coach's voice echoes throughout the locker room. He holds up a bright orange basketball that has only ever been touched by him due to the fact that it's new.

Almost all the boys in the locker room can hear the roar of the crowd out in the stadium.

The Coach's black and beady eyes look at each boy with a hardness that only comes out on game days.

"This is what I want you thinking about right now! YOUR future, and how that incorporates this basketball!" He paces a little as his powerful voice goes through each boys' mind. "And if you can't see this ball?…Then get out of my locker room and gym!"

No one makes a move.

"We have worked long and hard for this waiting game! Are we gonna let that other team take our win away?!"

"No!" Every boy screams.

"Are we gonna let them humiliate us in OUR gym?!"

"No!"

"Are we gonna WIN?!"

"Yes!"

"Hands in boys." The Coach calls as he puts out his hand and every boy stands up to be a part of this little huddle before they face their first opponents of the season.

Troy and Chad both look up as Chad's hand is the second hand on top, and Troy's hand is on the very top. They nod once to each other before the Coach starts yelling.

"On Three!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"TEAM!" The male voices can be heard from outside the locker room.

This is it. This is the first game that could lead to Troy's future, and it's just hitting him.

* * *

Throughout the time that school started and the very first basketball game, the twelve boys on the varsity team worked their hardest. They only had three to four practices a week, but they practiced longer than other schools with the way that their school is set up. On one of the sometimes three or four nights they practice they would go to the weight lifting room where either the baseball, or football team was. They would pair up and work together for at least an hour for that practice; as on other days by themselves, the boys were expected to go by themselves when there wasn't practice. The coaches wanted them ready for this game against the Bulldogs.

The Davidson Academy Wildcats always start their sport seasons off with playing against the Bulldogs in their home court. And half the time they always lose. The Bulldogs are another boarding school, and they also are very competitive. They are the Wildcats second biggest rivals as their first biggest rivals is a boarding school in the same big city--The Knights.

But usually as the basketball players battle it out on the court, they always come up with a win. They play their hardest, using their knowledge of what they learn in practice, and bring it to the playing field. They use the Coach's plays that are strategically created to get around the Bulldog's defense.

It is really a site to see as you're sitting in the crowd. No matter who is playing, even if it wasn't your team, you would be awe struck. Watching five boys work together in perfect harmony to pass around a simple orange ball as the clock is ticking down, and their bodies are sore…it is just a perfect moment as someone does something extra good, and they get to make a basket.

Gabriella is one of those people. Before when she wasn't with Troy she would still go to their games since he was her friend; along with most of the guys on the team, but now as his girlfriend she is paying special attention to him. She watches what his body is doing, how his facial expressions look and represent what he's feeling even more, how his eyes narrow when he's thinking real hard as the Bulldogs score on them. She can tell that he's secretly making a mental note of how to stop the opposing team the next time.

She was mesmerized instantly when she took front row seat in the hard bleachers. She is surrounded by fans of the Wildcats as they stand for all of the game; shouting, yelling, cheering, doing all the crazy cheers along with the cheerleaders, and Gabriella joined in. She is one of the crazy fans now as she can't even remember a time that she was this pumped up. She can feel just how excited he is when he makes a basket. She can feel how frustrated he is when he messes up. She can feel the happiness radiating off of his body when he makes his free throws and he looks directly at her.

So when the final buzzer goes off and the Wildcats are up 65-59 everyone in the stands practically rushes down and greets the ecstatic boys. Gabriella is one of the first ones rushing onto the court due to the fact that she didn't have to hop down steps or seats, and she runs to Troy right away.

Troy's busy wiping his forehead with the hem of his red jersey. He has a smile on his face as two small arms wrap around his hot skin and he instantly knows who they belong to. In all the games he has played in, Sharpay has never rushed down to greet him, and when she's gone and doesn't even attend the games, she never bothered to even talk to him about it, and within the three years that he has played on the Wildcats team, he has always been envious of the guys who have had girlfriends greet them.

He used to watch some of the guys dedicate their free throws to a certain female in the stands. Even if they just glanced at someone in the stands; they knew that the basket was dedicated to them, and Troy was always jealous of that. But now that Gabriella and him are dating, he doesn't have to be as he has someone to do that with now. And it feels good.

He smiles warmly as he turns around and looks down at his wonderful girlfriend. "I am so proud of you! Congratulations Troy!" Gabriella exclaims over the crowd's roar.

Various people pass them as they all pat him on the back and rush to other people who are more capable of talking. Shoulders bump, people yell, kids are rushing past everyone in a blur as the excitement for the game heightens, but yet…Troy and Gabriella are the only two there as they block out various images and people.

Gabriella jumps up and into Troy's arms as he twirls her around. He's all sweaty. He probably smells from playing in the game. He also is squeezing her extra tight. But Gabriella doesn't care.

"I told you so. You are my good luck." Troy mumbles against her cheek as he presses his lips to the soft skin. They hadn't really shown any PDA before besides of hugging, and kisses on the cheeks. Troy had to refrain himself from doing anything more with her as he doesn't know what Gabriella thinks of PDA yet.

"No." Gabriella disagrees. "You did this by yourself. It was all you and your team."

Because deep down, Gabriella knows that someday she won't be there for Troy to say that too. But she doesn't want to think about it as she lets her mind be taken away with the feeling of Troy's arms encircling her waist.

"Come here." She murmurs as she slowly leads Troy's head down to connect their lips in a soft kiss.

* * *

Originally it was just Jason and Zeke planning Ryan's homecoming party. But as the days past, Kelsi joined the group as it had become a regular thing where she would go to the hospital in between different classes, schoolwork, and hanging out with Jason. It had been so regular that whenever she was around Jason lately, he would always be with Zeke planning, so she was forced to listen, and just decided to voice her opinion on matters to what she knew Ryan would want and like. Then as the three of them realized just how hard it was to plan everything, from inviting guests to ordering food, to making sure that it was teacher appropriate, Gabriella volunteered her and Troy to help.

But as they decided on what time of the day to have his coming home party, they all realized that it was almost impossible for most of them to be there at the time the Head Master wanted to host the part at--7:00 p.m. That was where Chad and Taylor came to help as there was the first soccer game that night at that time. The second basketball game was at that time. Then there was also baseball and tennis practice early in the morning. All together only Taylor from their small group could be there from the start of the party to the end as the others would be coming late.

That is what the group is discussing as they sat in the boys' dorm room where people were filtering in and out.

"I guess I can ask the coach to rearrange the game?" Troy suggests as you can hear his reluctance in the tone he uses.

Gabriella pats his knee as she is currently curled into his side with his one arm draped over her shoulder. "No. You're first game was rearranged last time because of the accident, you shouldn't have to do that again. I'll just ask my coach about moving the game to a different time."

"Isn't it too late to do any of these? The games are tomorrow. The food gets here in the afternoon. The guests start to show up at 6:30. And we still only know that Taylor is going to be here for sure. We waited to long for this guys." Kelsi says.

"She's right. The only thing we can do is come late to the party that we're throwing for him. It might not be the best thing, but it's gonna just have to happen. We'll play in the games and win, and then we'll come to party and celebrate everyone's health." Jason says optimistically.

"Um…" Gabriella picks at the couch cushion that she's sitting on. "I hate to bring this up, but…has anyone talked or spoken to Emma?"

"The last I heard was that after the accident, her parents sent for her to come home for some recuperation time. Even though she wasn't the one in the coma, they still wanted her home after this." Kelsi tries to keep the bitterness out of her tone. A part of her still blames Emma for this; even though it is furthest from her fault. But yet she's the one who was in the accident with Ryan, and only received a fractured wrist and got to go home, as Ryan's parents barely even talked to him yet; let alone come to offer support.

"She is coming back, right?" Gabriella asks as she thinks about Sharpay's feelings and how that would effect her.

"Her stuff's still here. She has to be coming back." Taylor reassures her.

"Good. That's good."

"So Troy, we have had like almost every R.S.V.P for tomorrow. Do we have enough food?" Taylor asks as even though it was Troy's job for the guest list, he told everyone to talk to Taylor about it. Taylor very unhappily allowed him to keep doing that so by Friday night, she is the one who has the guest list, and not Troy.

"Um…that is Zeke's department." He doesn't realize it until he says it that maybe putting Taylor and Zeke together tomorrow morning to discuss last minute preparations isn't such a good thing. "But just give me the number of guests, and I'll take care of it. You have tennis tomorrow morning anyways."

A clearing of the throat brings the gang out of discussion and they all turn to see Sharpay standing behind the couch.

The gang all swivels their heads around to look at her as she has her hip popped out with a hand resting on her skinny side.

"Are you guys talking about Ryan's party?" She demands.

Taylor and Chad are the closest to her seeing as she is standing behind them, and everyone else is just waiting for someone else to answer.

"Uh…yeah." Chad speaks up.

Gabriella would have answered Sharpay, but she is momentarily stunned as she is currently cuddled up to Troy--a sitting position they do all the time now--but this has been the first time that Sharpay will have seen Gabriella with Troy. She had been pretty occupied with Ryan's heath than to notice her roommate with her ex-boyfriend.

Gabriella scoots a little further away from Troy as Troy hides the hurt that crosses his face, and lets his arm fall off of her body. He isn't completely stupid and mean to realize that it might hurt Sharpay still. He doesn't know how much Sharpay's feelings about him can change over just a couple of weeks.

"Do you want to help Sharpay?" Gabriella asks softly.

Sharpay holds her head high as it is clearly obvious to her that they had been planning it for a while and they very intently decided not to tell her.

"No. No I would not." Her voice doesn't show any signs of being hurt. "I just heard about it through some of the drama kids. I just assumed the invitation is open for anyone. So I'm here to tell Troy that I am coming."

Silently everyone pieces together that Troy never sent one to Sharpay.

"Me?" Troy asks in clear surprise. "Why me?"

Sharpay eyes narrow. She specifically on purpose avoided him at the hospital for the two weeks, and it is taking all of her confidence to stand in front of him and manage to talk without giving away the little hurt that's left.

"You are the one who is inviting people, are you not?" She asks through gritted teeth.

"I am." He answers meekly.

"Well then, since I didn't receive any formal invite; this is my R.S.V.P." Sharpay states. "If it's not acceptable, then I can write it down on a paper towel and slide it under your room door. Or maybe I can find a used napkin and write down my R.S.V.P with lipstick. How does that sound?" She demands as it shows just how upset she is about not receiving a proper invite like everyone else through an e-mail.

"No." He wants to be swallowed by the couch he's sitting on. "You don't have to."

"Fine. Then deal with this R.S.V.P and be happy about it Bolton." With that she storms out as the only sound after her departure is the door slamming.

A silent moment is taken before Zeke rolls his eyes and swats Troy with a pillow in the leg. "Dude, I can't believe you forgot to invite his SISTER!"

Troy rolls his eyes as he mentally notices that Gabriella hasn't moved back and into his side. "I'm sorry. I was kind of busy with the other four hundred kids to invite; plus TEACHERS!" He defends.

"I gave you all the e-mails. Sharpay's name is in there." Taylor exclaims.

"Well sorry that I skipped over my ex-girlfriend. I didn't try to do it on purpose. It just slipped my mind for a moment. Plus it's not like I asked for this job. I told you I'd mess up some how."

"Whatever. It's done with. She's coming, and she knows about it. So what?" Chad says in a casual tone. "If she has a problem, then she can take it up with someone who cares."

"You okay Kels?" Jason asks quietly so no one else hears as the others diverge into some other topic besides Sharpay finally.

Kelsi breaks out of looking at the door that Sharpay stormed out of as she feels Jason's hand connect with her own. She looks at him with guilt in her eyes for a second before blinking once to rid of it.

"Uh…yeah. She just seemed really upset."

"She'll deal. It's not like she found out tomorrow. It could've happened to anyone." Jason says nonchalantly also.

Kelsi still looks unsure. "…I guess."

As Kelsi is feeling this unusual feeling toward Sharpay as it's a hidden trust for what the blonde did for her; it's natural to feel bad towards the person she owes something too. But as Jason put it, it could've happened to anyone who didn't receive an e-mail, and it was bound to happen due to they put Troy in charge of inviting four hundred people. One was bound to slip the list. But on the other side of the room Gabriella is still looking ahead of herself and away from everyone else as she can't rid her mind of Sharpay's hurt look that swept across her face for a mere second.

"You okay?" A husky whisper asks from behind.

Gabriella looks up as she didn't even notice that Troy moved from the couch to standing behind her as she can faintly hear Chad, Jason, and Zeke now discussing what kind of cake to make.

Looking into his dark blue eyes makes her realize that she can't lie to him. Ever since earlier in the week; something just clicked. Something clicked in her mind that this is their senior year. Pretty soon college stuff would be coming up. And she actually has someone else besides herself to consider, and then the question of 'will they be together?' came into her mind.

Gabriella realized that they possible won't always have each other to rely on; so why is she letting herself rely on him right now, when in the near future she won't have anyone? It hurts her to think that she won't be able to see Troy. So how can she after junior year, put herself through more heartbreak? Because that is what she's setting herself up for again. She's gonna hurt all over again, and she feels guilty for letting Troy believe that she is okay.

"…No. I'm not." She whispers as his calloused fingers play with a couple of her long curls.

"Anything I can help you with?" He knows how independent she is. He knows how important it is to give her space when she needs and wants it.

Looking into his eyes, they remind her of how proud she felt when she saw his first basketball game of the season. They show her love, compassion, and trust. And that's more than enough to make Gabriella know that she can deal with this on her own. It's HER guilt that's eating HER up on the inside; not his.

"…No. Thanks though."

She reaches up to his hand that's resting on the back of the couch and squeezes it lightly.

"Love you."

He smiles down at her and presses a kiss to the top of her head. "Love you too."


	4. Blurry

**Author's Note--Please remember that whatever you read in this chapter, all flashbacks are in italics. Also, they outline what is about to come in various different ways, so please don't stop reading because you think I'm gonna make Troyella into a Jason/Gabriella relationship. Have an open mind please, and don't freak out as I can almost guarentee you it's not what you think. Thank-you.**

* * *

_You could be my someone  
You could be my sea  
You know that I'll protect you  
From all of the obscene  
I wonder what you're doing  
Imagine where you are  
There's oceans in between us  
But that's not very far_  
Blurry--Puddle of Mudd

* * *

Gabriella lazily flicks the magazine page as Sharpay is busy walking around their room while humming an unknown tune. There is a knock on the door as neither girl wants to be the one to walk over and open it.

"Come in!" Gabriella calls after a moment of silence.

The least likely person who Gabriella or Sharpay expected to enter their room did with a bright smile on his face.

Sharpay kinks an eye brow as the boy is just smiling at them with stacks of paper in his hand.

"What are you, the messenger boy?" She asks in a snotty attitude.

Kent grins even more as he hands Gabriella one of the flyers. Gabriella looks down at it as Kent starts talking. "Exactly, and I'm here to bring the good news that school is officially canceled on Monday."

"What?!" Sharpay demands. "Why?!"

"And you're not happy?" Kent asks as if that is the worst possible reaction ever.

Gabriella rolls her eyes as Sharpay had been humming, singing, and talking to herself as she went over her lines of the musical. "She's just worried that her show's going to go wrong. They have their first run through on Monday."

"Yes. So we're back to the what and why questions." Sharpay says impatiently.

"It's all on there. Something to do with the football draining the swimming pool and filling it with jelly." Both girls look at him as if he's crazy. He holds up two hands. "Hey, like I said; I'm just the messenger boy. But they got caught and now they're meeting with all the teachers as if it's some trial and they're receiving their punishments. It's not like our school can expel all our football players."

"You sound happy." Gabriella comments uncomically from her spot on the bed.

"Considering half the players are jackasses. Yeah. I would say I'm happy."

"Like they're any better than you." Sharpay comments under her breath.

Kent sends her a charming smile. "Oh no. I'm worse, but at least I don't just take. I also give."

Sharpay narrows her eyes on him. "Eww!"

"Isn't Tay supposed to be handing out notices? She is our prefect for the girls." Gabriella points out.

Kent rolls her eyes. "She is, but her excuse was, 'she's busy' so I get stuck doing the whole class."

"It's your fault you accepted being a prefect. You could've said no." Gabriella teases with a smile.

Kent rolls his eyes are he starts to leave. He mocks hurt. "You know, I take my special time to come here personally and actually talk instead of just leaving the notice under your door, and what's my payment? Being jabbed at by your guys' comments."

"I can jab you more with something else if you'd like?" Sharpay offers happily.

Kent narrows his eyes. "Fuck off Evans."

"As long as I'm not fucking off with you; I'll gladly do it."

Kent leaves with his back turned towards them and his middle finger up as Gabriella lets a small giggle escape from her mouth.

"I am so glad Monday is canceled. I had all this homework due, and now I have an extra day." Gabriella says casually as she also thinks that the reason why she's going to be so busy is because Troy practically is forcing her to go out to dinner with him and his family so that things will be less weird; not that Gabriella minds much.

* * *

Emma had been putting it off for so long, when in reality it was only three weeks. Her parents has taken her out of school for three weeks so that they could all clear their minds. To say that they were freaked out was an understatement as Emma has never seen them so scared in her life. It was weird how tragic events brought out that in people.

But as she finally stepped foot in the airport again, she knew what she had to do. She had called Jackie and Leah who both informed her what happened the last previous days with the football team and how school was canceled for Monday, and then the subject of Ryan came up. They had only seen him once in all the time that he was at the hospital, but they said he was doing good. So that was Emma's hint that this was the right time.

She knocked on the door with her non sprained wrist. A husky 'come in' can be heard as she slowly pushes the door open. She blinks a couple of times to adjust to the bright white hospital color before gently closing the door behind herself.

"Hey." She greets as he hurries to sit up straighter in bed.

Ryan was expecting someone like Kelsi or his sister, but not Emma as he hadn't heard about her for what seemed like forever.

"Hey." He looks at her wrist. "Um…how's your, uh…wrist?" He can't help but feel guilty that it is his fault she is hurt.

She momentarily looks down before connecting eyes with him. "It's a lot better than what happened to you. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner."

Ryan shakes his head. "Nonsense. Here," he motions to the seat next to his bed. "Take a seat." Something about seeing her in his room makes his heart beat faster. It put him into a happy mood as he now knew that she isn't going anywhere and that she has returned safely. "So what's new with the family?" He asks brightly.

Emma smiles. "They're doing good. They send their regards. What's new around here?"

"Troy and Gabriella are finally together."

It's not as awkward as either one of them thought it would be.

* * *

"I'm so bored." Jackie complains as usually on a Friday afternoon her, Leah, and Emma would be following Sharpay around doing things that had something to do with drama or singing.

"I know." Leah agrees as she flicks through the channels on TV out in the girls' lobby. "Shar just walked through here without even acknowledging us. What was up with that?"

Jackie looks at her best friend as out of the four girls, her and Leah have been the closest. "Are you seriously asking that? Aren't you glad Shar isn't ordering us around?"

"Well her dad does basically write out our families pay checks." Leah states. "I kind of feel bad."

"Don't be. We don't NEED to be friends with her just because our dads work for her dad. If everyone did that then half the kids at this school would be following her around." Jackie explains. "Plus, if she did need something, she would call."

The two are silent as Leah is the first to break it. "She's been acting very strange lately. Ever since--"

"Troy dumped her." Jackie cut in as whenever she was with Sharpay, she would always make an excuse to turn the tables to make it seem like she didn't care that Troy dumped her. Jackie is almost one hundred percent sure that she hasn't even admitted out loud that Troy dumped her. She also knows that if Sharpay had it her way, it would've been her to dump him. Something to do with feeling powerful.

"We need something else to talk about. Some more gossip." Leah turns off the TV. "And I have the perfect idea." She smiles at Jackie. "We're gonna host a sleepover."

* * *

"Thanks for coming." Troy says as they both were outside just waiting for the car his parents sent for them to arrive.

Gabriella smiles. "I would've come. Even if you didn't beg me." She teases.

"I did not beg."

"Oh right." Gabriella says sarcastically. "And you on your knees saying you weren't going to move is not begging?"

He smiles at her as his arms encircle around her waist. Gabriella bites her bottom lip as she anticipates what Troy is going to do.

"So changing the subject here, but what are you going to do now on Monday?"

"That depends on who's asking." Gabriella leans into his body for warmth.

"Well of course it's your wonderful boyfriend who is asking. I was thinking maybe we can go out by the cliffs for a picnic or something." His head leans down and their foreheads rest against each other. "You interested?"

"I might be tired, but yeah. I can't think of anything better to do." Gabriella whispers across his face as her sweet smelling breath tickles his lips.

"Tired?"

"Yeah. Jackie and Leah are hosting some sleepover thing in our dorm that night. Since all the teachers are gathering for a pre-meeting about the football players. Something to do with inviting only the seniors down on the first floor while every other girl gets to imagine being with us?" Gabriella sees the confusion on Troy's face. "I don't really know myself. But how Sharpay explained it, was that basically Leah and Jackie don't particularly like the underclassmen, so it's just senior girls in the lobby Sunday night."

"Uh huh. And this includes you how?"

"Well I am a senior, and I am a girl which you should be thankful for Bolton." Gabriella adds as an afterthought. "And since they're basically tied at the hip with Sharpay, and Sharpay for only God knows why is actually getting along with me, they just decided instead of limiting their friends, why not invite our whole class of girls?"

"For a sleep over?" Troy asks in a dead panned tone.

"You don't sound convinced." Gabriella points out as she isn't feeling all that excited either considering Sharpay and her are barely on a speaking terms, but nonetheless, they are getting along. And even though Gabriella knows that she is one of the more well known girls at school, she never was one for sleepovers as they bring out the drama in everyone.

"No. I'm convinced alright, but I know these girls. They're probably looking for trouble. Just like Sharpay." Troy adds as Gabriella looks at his strangely, but covers it up as she lets the little remark about Sharpay slide.

"Jackie and Leah probably are, but Emma isn't and from what I hear, she's home. And I'm glad that she is. Ryan needs a pick-me-up. And Emma might be the trick."

"Brie," Troy puts a curl behind her ear, "I hardly think Emma not being here is what's hurting Ryan. It may have something to do with his broken leg though."

Gabriella rolls her eyes as she gives Troy a peck on the mouth. She smiles cheekily at him as he wants more, and she can tell by the look in his eyes. "You just don't know how people think."

"Is that a good or bad thing?"

"Both."

* * *

"I was visiting Ryan." Kelsi blurts out from nowhere as Jason's head whips up and his eyes are like deer's caught in headlights.

They were doing homework for Earth Science as pretty soon Kelsi would have to leave for a drama club meeting as she was meeting up with Ryan's understudy who wanted to run through some of his solos. But as Jason suggested to study in his room since Ryan was still gone, Kelsi couldn't deny that her hands got the little more sweatier, and her mouth drier as she was nervous that he figured out that she lied to him already. And as they were studying for about an hour now, all Kelsi could think of was what if he knew?

"What?" Jason asks as he sets down his pencil and pushes his schoolwork out of the way as they're both already sitting cross legged on his bed.

"I have something to tell you and I don't know how you're going to react." Kelsi looks down at the comforter she's sitting on as she finds it easier to look at than Jason's face who is showing true confusion. "Sharpay didn't exactly tell you the truth either."

"What are you talking about Kels?" He's almost afraid to hear her answer.

"I don't know why I did it, but…he was my boyfriend almost for the whole year last year, and I felt bad for him." Kelsi says quickly. "I went to go see him in the hospital and he went on about how far behind he is and so I decided that I could help him, and it just turned into visiting him everyday, and I never told you because…because…."

"Because why?" Jason softly demands as he is trying to maintain his patience.

"Because I didn't want you to feel jealous." She admits sheepishly as she finally looks up and into his eyes. "Because I feel like I need to stay in contact with him, and because he is a part of my life, and I don't want to forget that. I didn't want you to be upset, and okay, maybe you wouldn't be so much jealous, but mad, but I just didn't want to risk that. So when Sharpay lied for me, I didn't question it as it just swept all our potential problems aside, and things are going good for us, or they were until this happened, and I'm sorry. Did I mention that before? Because I am."

"You're right with so many things." Jason tells her as he is recalling the past week and how many times Kelsi actually did flake on him.

"Jason--"

He cut her off. "Are you still into him?"

"What? No!" Kelsi denies automatically. "I just…like talking to him. We're friends."

"You lied to me. You told me you were rehearsing with Ben who could pull off being a girl, and I thought I had nothing to worry about, but to find out that…you…and him? Look me in the eye and tell me that you're over him because I don't know how your relationship ended with him, but I do know that he was pretty torn up about it, so something bad must have happened."

Kelsi's eyes glossed over throughout Jason's little rant as he is breathing raggedly. "Jason, I AM fully over him. We're just friends." She maintained eye contact with him as Jason thought it would make him feel better to hear her say that, but it didn't. He was willing to ask her to be his girlfriend. Things were going so well with them. But to find out that she was lying to him for a whole week about seeing her ex-boyfriend. It was too much for him to think about.

"I need you to go Kelsi, please?" He asks in a sturdy voice.

"Jason--" Her tone is desperate.

"I WANT you to go. I need to think about this." Jason closes the book he was using and hands it to her. "You are right, I am jealous. He is your ex and he still loves you! How can you not see that?!"

"No he doesn't! He said he doesn't." Kelsi exclaims frantically; hoping that something will sink in and they can forget this little argument.

"Of course he'll say that! He'll say anything to keep you in his life because you're YOU! You're worth fighting for and he'll do anything for you!"

"You're being ridiculous. Nothing happened Jason. I promise you."

"Something happened alright. Something along the lines of you lying to me about your ex, and I just really want and need for you to go before I get even more angrier. Please, just go now."

Kelsi is torn as she hesitates, but she knows that she can't do anything else or else he really could get mad and things could be ruined. "I really am sorry though. You have to know that."

* * *

Troy is waiting for his father to bring up some news about his work. Anything about his work and how well Bolton Powerhouse was doing. All it would take is a slight little mention about all the various companies that his father owns--ranging from restaurants to architectural buildings--to get the ball rolling for Jack Bolton to try to persuade Troy to join him and manage any building that he saw fit.

Although his father did appreciate his son's basketball playing ability, Jack just saw fit for Troy to take over his companies before he retires early. If not then Jack would have to resort to handing over the companies to someone who isn't even blood related, so all his hard work would go down the drain as they couldn't even keep it in the family.

"So you play soccer, Gabriella?" Mrs. Bolton, Lucille asks with a warm smile on her face.

Gabriella nods her head as she takes a sip of her water. At first throughout the appetizers, Gabriella didn't know what was wrong with her. It seemed as if Mrs. Bolton wasn't sure around her. Gabriella knows that she liked Sharpay, but surely Gabriella was working her way onto Mrs. Bolton's approval list. Plus, it's not like Mrs. Bolton didn't know Gabriella already. They had met various other times during the past years of high school.

"She's being modest mom. She's actually the captain again for the second year in a row. They have a good shot at winning the championship this year."

"Oh really?" Lucille smiles adoringly at Gabriella as her cheeks blush. Gabriella has been to countless dinners where her father was hosting it for his business or her mother's company was having one. She had been on dates with various guys--mostly during her sophomore year--and even then Gabriella has managed to steer clear of talking about herself and how much she loved to play soccer. If it would have been any other person, then Gabriella would have changed the subject by now, but it is Troy. And she knew without even talking to him that he wants to maintain clear of Jack Bolton's companies.

"Of course our season hasn't started yet, and we don't know yet about the championship, but we have a good shot tomorrow." Gabriella explains as her and Troy's eyes connect and he merely shrugs as Gabriella rolls her eyes at how Troy has maybe too much confidence in her team.

"How'd your season go last year Gabriella?" Jack asks right as the waiters bring out their main courses.

"We were undefeated up until March." Gabriella replies quietly as she distracts herself with her food. They all know what happened in March, and no one wants to open that can of worms. But Gabriella doesn't want to feel rude, so she elaborated, "And then we lost five games, and our first game in the play-offs."

Troy sends Gabriella a sympathetic look from across the table as it seems like no one knows what to say now. The air is almost a little tense as Gabriella's words hung in the air. He knows he needs to say something to distract his parents' minds from thinking about Gabriella's family and what went wrong the previous year.

"So dad, how's the company?"

Jack Bolton is nearly never surprised. So when his son asks willingly how his businesses are going, he hides his wide eyes and dropped open mouth by politely picking up his napkin and dabbing at his mouth before speaking in a good hearty tone.

"Which one?"

But Troy doesn't hear as his eyes are once again connected with Gabriella's as she's silently thanking him.

* * *

The dinner had gone well. Other than Jack Bolton going on and on about how well his companies are doing, Troy enjoyed his parents company as Gabriella also did as she took it upon herself to voice her opinions about what ever topic she knew of as her and Jack would get into various conversations that were almost over the top of Troy's and his mother's heads.

Troy knows where he wants to be in life. He wants to be traveling, whether that be for basketball or art. But he knows one thing: he doesn't want to be in a stuffy ole office that has a cities view; ordering people around. It just isn't him, and he's gonna stick with that answer whenever his dad brings up his propositions.

Although it won't be easy, as Jack is fairly adamant that Troy will soon succumb to his side. But Troy is willing to stick to his guns, and he's willing to accept the fact that his father and him will never see eye to eye on things.

"That was a lovely dinner." Lucille gushes as all four of them are outside as the limo is waiting to take Jack and Lucille back to their five star hotel.

Out in the distance and slowly approaching is a figure that everyone can safely say is of a guy. As he nears Gabriella knows that it's Jason as he has his hands deep in his pockets of his ripped jeans, and his head down as he's slowly scuffing his feet.

Something's wrong with him.

"Jase? What's up man?" Troy asks as he isn't as accustomed to this kind of Jason as Gabriella is.

"Jase?" Jack whispers to Lucille as he is a typical male who only remembers the peoples' names he sees almost everyday. And his son's friends aren't people who make that list.

"Jason Cross. We met his parents at the funerals last year. Good people. He's good with film." Lucille whispers back. Her eyes narrow a little as an afterthought pops up in her head. "He is also Gabriella's ex…I think."

"What's wrong?" Gabriella asks quietly with concern lacing her voice as her one hand that is connected with Troy's untangles itself and rests on Jason's shoulder.

Jason wasn't planning on Troy's parents being there as he was walking to Gabriella's room to talk to her about Kelsi and to find out what went wrong between her and Ryan. But now he knows he can't as he doesn't need his problems to be shared between Troy who would tell Chad, who then would tell Taylor, and it would continue to go around in a circle until the whole school would know. It was just too much for a guy who was barely in a relationship for a couple of weeks, and seeing as it was a small fight that Jason is sure that they'll get over after talking to each other calmly, that it'll work out. He doesn't want other unnecessary people to get involved.

"Everything's good. Just came by to see Kels, but I forgot that she's at drama now." He makes up on the spot.

He hates lying to Gabriella. It is something he swore to himself ever since that horrible night during Winter Break their junior year that he wouldn't do it anymore. It got him into many sticky messes, and Gabriella deserves better from him since she's always open with him.

"Are you sure?" Gabriella asks.

Her question silently says--_I know that you're lying to me, and we'll talk about it later._

"Yeah."

* * *

Gabriella pulls away from Troy slightly as their foreheads rest against each other. They are now currently standing inside of her room as Sharpay is gone still at drama club.

"I really am sorry that I was kind of distracted by Jason when your parents were leaving." Gabriella says for what seems like the hundredth time to Troy.

He rolls his eyes dramatically as his right hand subconsciously plays with one of her dangling curls. "Brie, how many times do I have to say it? My parents don't care, and I especially don't care. You were concerned with Jason, and that's fine that you didn't say goodbye. Trust me." Troy smiles down at her as he pecks her quickly on the lips again. "We'll see them again this weekend, and then you can say goodbye a thousand times if you want."

Gabriella smiles extra big as she loves teasing him. "That's perfect! Then they won't like me even more."

"They like you." Troy says as this is one of the many reasons why he doesn't let his friends meet his parents.

"Not your mom." Gabriella points out in a tone that she tried to make sound normal. It was hard enough to think and talk when Troy's around and near her, but to have him directly touching her while she can still smell his minty breath on her own; it is intoxicating.

"My mom takes longer to come around. It took her a couple of months to like Sharpay."

"Thanks. That makes me feel loads better. Being compared to Sharpay is like comparing me to a stain sometimes." Gabriella rolls her eyes. "She probably doesn't like me because you just sprung this on her. She loved Sharpay, and now you have a new girlfriend that's nothing like her."

"Hey, hey, hey." Troy chides slowly and softly as his warm fingers stroke her upper cheek. "No one would compare you to a stain." Troy bites back a smile at how upset Gabriella is getting. It is cute sometimes, but his heart pulls him back to the real reality and at this time, his girlfriend is upset about it.

"Troy!" Gabriella scolds as she can't believe that he's making small jokes at the time.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but come on Brie, it's ridiculous. Who cares what my mom thinks right now. She liked you last year, and she liked you freshman and sophomore year. She was actually the one to tell me freshmen year to go out with you."

"She was?" Gabriella asks in a small voice.

"Yup, and I was stupid enough to pass that chance up. And it's not that she doesn't like you right now. She just is still upset that I didn't tell her about Sharpay sooner. Supposedly her and Mrs. Evans are like best friends now, and I just messed that up." Troy rolls his eyes at how bad that sounds as Gabriella smiles gently now. "That's my favorite smile."

Gabriella's cheeks blush as her body melts into Troy's even more. "You're such a suck up Bolton, but did your dad really like me?"

Troy chuckles at this. "Brie, you're such a suck up to the parents, and yes," Troy says firmly, "My dad did like you. I wouldn't be surprised if he was reserving a time at church for us to get married."

It is just one word. One word in which Gabriella's whole body freezes up as if there's thousands of needles piercing her body. It is as if she can't move because it hurts too much to even think of it. She had always stayed away from conversations that contained that word. When her Aunt got married, she didn't even go to the wedding. That word always put her in a sour mood.

She had grown up with her mom and dad being married, and then Nikki and Kyle were born, and things between her parents seemed to die down. They would always get into fights. Whether it be that her dad was working too much, or both her parents weren't setting a good example for them. So when Gabriella turned twelve and her brother and sister were just six years old, her parents finally got a divorce.

It wasn't messy as it was more on the unusual side. They were both almost like teenagers trapped in adult bodies. They both acted as if they were their kids' friends and not parents, and that's what Gabriella loved about them. But when they did decided on a divorce, Gabriella's perfect little world was shattered. She didn't understand that her father wanted to pursue his business out East, or her mom wanted to stay in San Francisco and pursue her own dream. To Gabriella is was all just one big mess as they still had to go to court and Gabriella had to decide on which parent she wanted to stay with. In the end it didn't matter though as they both decided on trading off with the kids. But to Gabriella it sounded a lot worse.

"Married?" Gabriella's voice echoes as her mouth goes dry and her bottom lip trembles a little. "As like in a church, with a priest, and flowers, and guests?"

Troy's eyes twinkle at seeing Gabriella looking so stunned at just the thought of being married. What he didn't know is that she's stunned out of fear. Fear of turning out like her parents; being married for six years when all you wanted to do was separate on good terms to do your own thing. Of feeling trapped with no where else to turn to except the last resort of pulling apart your family.

"Yup. He probably has the church on speed dial." Troy is still teasing her as he knows his dad won't do that, but he also knows that his dad would support him if he did marry out of high school.

Gabriella pulls away from Troy and he looks confused for a minute before he suddenly realizes that she's not just stunned because it's marriage they're talking about, but she has fear in her eyes.

"Troy that's…please tell me you're kidding." Gabriella pleads frantically.

"I am Brie. I'm totally kidding. He just really likes you is all." Troy comforts automatically as Gabriella sits down on her bed and Troy follows as he looks at her. "Why do I get the feeling that something is wrong?"

"Because something is wrong. You can't just say that and expect it to not effect me. You were talking about marriage!" Gabriella exclaims still in panic.

"Brie. Hey, look at me." He tilts her chin up so her eyes meet his. "I'm only joking. Not that I wouldn't mind marrying you, but I'm still only joking."

"Troy, that's a crazy idea." Gabriella exclaims again without thinking of her words carefully. "We're still in high school, and we have our whole lives ahead of us. Why would you want to ruin your life like that right away?"

"Okay, I'm not gonna get upset over just what you said, but it's simple Brie. Why would you wait to spend the rest of your life with the person you love, when you already found them? Why not make it permanent?" He really did try to keep the hurt out of his voice. No matter if he told her that he wasn't effected by what she just said, it is almost impossible to not be a little upset at the idea that your girlfriend, the girl that you love, doesn't want to even consider marriage in the long run.

Gabriella calms down a little as she knows that she hurt Troy, but it is just a crazy idea. "I really don't want to talk about it anymore. It's a crazy idea and we're still in high school. It's not like your proposing right now." Gabriella tries to lighten the situation.

"No. I guess not." Troy rubs his thumb over her knuckles as he squeezes her hand a little. "But Brie? If I ever did propose, what would you say?"

Gabriella thinks he's joking around. "Troy, we're seniors in high school. Let's just get past that. Okay?"

It isn't okay as there is something wrong. Troy doesn't know why it hurts so much that Gabriella isn't taking him seriously, but whatever it was, it still wasn't okay with him. But to keep everything simple for now, he has no other choice but to go along with it.

"Okay."

* * *

_She was panting slightly as he nibbled on her ear lobe. "You taste so good. You know that, right?"_

_Gabriella giggled as her hands rubbed up his hardening stomach and cold chest. "You're so cold." She whispered as her bare back sank lower into his bed._

_He smirked as his lips ran over her skin, down her soft neck where his mark was, and to her swell of her breasts. "You feel so good right now." He repeated as Gabriella rolled her eyes._

_"You're a suck up." She called before her hips bucked from surprise of his cold hand that was slowly turning warmer and warmer by the second grazing her lower lips of her body._

_"What was that Montez?" He chuckled at her response as he continued to rub through her red lace thong._

_This had happened many times before as Gabriella would go over to his room as Ryan would be away for drama or baseball, and then they would plan to study, but other things would come up._

_"Don't stop."_

_"Manners." He chided as his index finger pushed aside the little material left on his girlfriend, and started to penetrate her body._

_"Please?" She breathed out as a small moan escaped her lips. "Please Jase, don't stop."_

_He pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh. "That's my girl."_

_Now at first when they started messing around, they took it serious as possible. It was an act of showing the other one how much they mean to each other, but now as both of them got comfortable with the other one's body, small talk conversations took place, and then pretty soon it was just natural to talk and joke around while giving the other one pleasure they deserved._

_"Christmas break is in a week. We need to decide if you're coming home with me." Jason added another finger as Gabriella's breathing increased rapidly._

_He had visited her mother with Gabriella over Thanksgiving weekend as he got to meet half of her family those four days. And now he was really hoping that Gabriella would go home with him for Christmas as they then could fly to her dad's house for the second half of break. He wanted his family to meet her formally as he wanted to show her how special she really was to him._

_Gabriella thought otherwise as this was a reoccurring conversation between them. "Jase, I thought we talked about this? I'm going to my dad's and you're going to your hometown."_

_Jason refused to believe that Gabriella wasn't going to go with him. He went to her house for Thanksgiving; not to mention all the other little holidays in between._

_"We have, but…" He pressed a kiss to the inside of her leg again, "God you're amazing." He practically moaned out._

_"Suck up."_

_"But it would be nice for you to meet my parents. They really want to get to know you Gabi."_

_Gabriella wanted to spend Christmas with her dad, Kyle, and Nikki. She only got to see him for small amounts of time, but then again Jason was more than willing to visit him and her mom for all the other holidays and school breaks._

_"Jase…oh god…" His fingers picked up in speed again. "I just…it's Christmas." It came out more of a whine._

_"I know that. And Christmas is a big deal for my family. Just like you said that Christmas in your dad's house isn't. Don't you want to go?" Jason asked as there was no denying that he was hurt by her denial and refusal._

_"I do, but…" Gabriella couldn't concentrate as Jason's fingers continued to move in her, and the conversation that was going on around her. "Okay, can you just like stop for a minute?"_

_Jason froze his movements as he withdrew his fingers from her body. She was being worked up as she could still feel the throb for release, but talking to Jason was more important. She gathered the sheets that she was laying on and quickly went under them as she at least had the decency to cover herself up while Jason scooped up his red and white boxers to put them on._

_"Are you mad?" Gabriella asked softly as she reached out and put a comforting hand on Jason's arm._

_He flinched a little at the cold touch, but didn't shrug her off. "…Kind of…yeah."_

_"I thought we were on the same page here Jase? I'm going to my dad's. I just have to. You understand right?"_

_Jason looked into Gabriella's big brown eyes and couldn't tell her how he really felt as that would just upset her even more too._

_"…Yeah." No, he didn't was the real answer. He went to countless amount of things with Gabriella as he spent fucking Thanksgiving with her, but he couldn't say that as it was his choice, and even though Gabriella even said her dad doesn't make a big deal out of Christmas, she was still going, and he just had to accept that._

_"You know I love you, right?" She questioned._

_"Yeah."_

**Author's note--So I haven't updated this story in what feels liks forever! I know, I know...that's bad on my part, but I've been super busy, and in all fairness I was working on the outline for this story as I don't like writing this kind of story wtihout some sort of outline. I need it to keep everything in order, and it just cut into so much time as I also have school and a job; much like other people on this website. So please forgive me, and this is a warning: Updates won't be constant. They'll still happen, but they won't have a set schedule or anything. And I'm sorry, but that's how it has to be as I am running on short time. I hope you understand and thank you for the reviews. I'm not sure how much of them I deserve considering my time is so thinned out for my High School Musical stories, but I'm so happy that I continue to recieve them. Thanks.**

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